The present invention relates to a system and method for facilitating electronic aggregate shopping and, more particularly, to a system which enables shoppers to set up or join shopping groups determined by a product desired thereby.
Shopping via electronic communication networks, especially the Internet, is fast becoming common practice among present day shoppers.
The Internet is considered the preferred new marketplace for a variety of products including goods and services. Using the Internet to conduct shopping affords buyers with numerous advantages. A shopper conducting transactions through the Internet can shop at any time during the day while enjoying the convenience of shopping from home or the office. In addition, since a shopper can readily access product information including pricing of a product sold by numerous retailers, price comparison can easily be effected for this product.
The proliferation of Internet mediated retail shopping has brought about the development of software shopping agents, commonly referred to as “smart agents”. These software programs or modules are capable of self browsing the Internet and completing tasks according to a command provided by a user, thus enabling a user to receive information on a best price or selling terms of a specific product easily and rapidly. As such, these smart agents free the user from the tedious task of browsing through numerous electronic product catalogues.
Although Internet mediated shopping has proliferated tremendously during the past few years, several shopper advantages which can be provided through the use of this medium are yet to be exploited.
The Internet is a virtual community or collection of virtual communities of users which are inter linkable therebetween. For example, Internet chat groups of a specific subject matter gather a distinct and sometime geographically dislocated group of people sharing a common interest, which interest is embodied by the subject matter of this chat group. Thus, the Internet enables this group of people which share a common interest to intercommunicate, a situation which, in the absents of the Internet, could not be readily realized.
This unique quality of the Internet can be utilized to gather shoppers wishing to purchase a designated product into aggregate shopping groups.
Aggregate shopping provides shoppers with leverage against retailers. The buying power of a group of people enables to maneuver a retailer to a price point lower than or sale terms improved as compared to that offered to a single shopper, thus providing considerable savings and/or other advantages to the shoppers of this group.
Thus, the present invention is of a system and method for facilitating aggregate shopping, by enabling shoppers to set up or join shopping groups which are determined according to a product they wish to purchase or to a product offered thereto.